This new [2008] edition of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds updates the fourth edition which was published in 1997 following a detailed review that went back to first principles. That document has generally stood the test of time. Indeed it is regarded as authoritative in many other countries.

However, the past few years have seen a growing emphasis on the use of risk assessment by sports ground management to enable it to identify and implement the measures necessary to ensure the reasonable safety of spectators. This is reflected in the new edition. While there have been no significant safety failures resulting in the deaths of spectators at any ground in the United Kingdom since the publication of the previous edition, the potential for disaster remains. Tragedies continue to occur in other parts of the world. As many sports become ever more commercially driven, it is timely to remind ground management and its advisors of the danger of complacency and of the need for continual vigilance.